More than 18,000 people die on a daily basis because they don’t have access to clean drinking water. (In short, consider yourself lucky.) One company has decided to change that, though, and their idea is nothing short of lifesaving.
VICI Labs has invented what it’s calling the WaterSeer, which harvests water directly from the air around it. “Planted” six or more feet into the ground—like a mini water tower—the device’s guts are cooled by the soil that surrounds it. On top of the device is a wind turbine that motors a fan inside it and shuttles the warm air into a condensation chamber. As the warmer air cools inside the device, condensation occurs on its sides, draining into a reservoir. Afterward, the clean water can simply be pumped out via a hose.
Unlike some of the pie-in-the-sky design concepts we write about on RealClearLife, the WaterSeer is actually in test mode at the moment (i.e. there’s a physical WaterSeer somewhere doing its job). The concept was 367 percent funded via Indiegogo as of November 2016, and was first tested in April 2016 at UC Berkeley. The “finalized” model was tested four months later in conjunction with the National Peace Corps Association, and is still in that phase.
Because WaterSeer’s subterranean parts are always cooler than the air that surrounds the part jutting out of the ground, clean water can be collected night and day—and even without the aid of wind. Ideally, one WaterSeer could produce up to 11 gallons of water each day and is self-sustaining. So, it works 24 hours per day with no energy needed.
As a nonprofit, the company notes that 100 percent of funding goes into the WaterSeer project, and for every device bought in the U.S., they’ll provide one to an area in a developing country that needs access to clean water. Because they’re still engaged in field testing, the company has yet to put a price on a WaterSeer.
For more information on WaterSeer or to donate, click here. Watch an informational video on the WaterSeer below.
—RealClearLife Staff
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